“All the calculated dates of redemption have passed and now the matter depends upon teshuvah and mitzvahs.”
- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97b

I am grateful to belong to a people, a culture, and a community that embrace a spectrum of religious backgrounds and beliefs. When asked if she believed in God, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir responded “I believe in the Jewish people.” Questioning and struggling with the concept of God are deeply ingrained in Judaism and literally part of the word Israel, the community of Jews, from which the country takes its name. Therefore, atheism is kosher and I am proud to be an “atheist of the book.”

Spiritually and intellectually, I believe that complex questions are almost always better than simplistic answers. Faith, whether in God or anything else, is not necessarily important; what is important is community and action, that is, doing Jewish stuff separately and together, doing good deeds. With or without God, there can be and is Judaism, reverence, spirituality, awe, the sacred, transcendence, radical amazement, mystery, miracles, community, ethics, gratitude, compassion, kindness, education, wisdom, justice, mentshlikhkayt, and so on.

Whether good or bad things happen, I don’t blame, praise, beg, fear, or worship any God or gods, devils or demons, angels or ghosts. Just because the unknown may be unknown doesn’t mean that God is the only or best way to explain it. I instead recognize the physical, psychological, sociological, and other forces, both known and unknown, that influence us and the world. Likewise, the only heavens or hells are the many metaphorical ones we create for ourselves and others. The concept of God doesn’t necessarily lead to spirituality, meaning, responsibility, peace, or justice, though of course it can, but rather often inhibits those processes by distraction, deflection, delay – or worse.

We all rely on science in so many ways. Science, which is fundamentally based on observation and evidence, is completely incompatible with theism. In all cases, the burden should be on believers of a phenomenon to prove what they claim exists; in contrast, one should not have to try to prove the non-existence of God, flying spaghetti monsters, or anything else. In the absence of evidence, I choose not to believe in something I’m confident does not exist. If a God does exist, however, either God is doing a really crappy and cruel job and therefore should be continuously rebuked by all or God negligently doesn’t get involved and is therefore still guilty of reckless disregard yet is also irrelevant. If God is Being, Nature, Awe, Energy, Great Spirit, Love, Inside Us, the Universe, or anything of the sort, as it is for some, then the God concept seems an unnecessary layer of obfuscation and therefore superfluous as it adds nothing beyond the word and concept itself.

As with Emile Durkheim, for me, divinity is manifested in community and we are a holy community, as all good communities are. I am religious because I belong to a religious community, which I love, not because I believe in supernatural beings. There is only one God, as our tradition suggests, and we atheists don’t believe in it (how strange that people typically genderize God as male, as if God could also have a race or nationality). Even without God, I am a proud, practicing, affiliated, and active Jew and congregational member, having had a bar mitzvah and a Jewish wedding, regularly attending services and serving on committees, as well as engaging in Torah and Talmud study, and my son having had a bar mitzvah and hopefully, sometime in the future, a Jewish wedding.

Biblical Abraham created atheism for all gods but one. It might be time to smash the idolatry of the belief in this last remaining God. Jews have sometimes described God as a verb, as a job description, ineffable, limitless, unknowable, and much else, but fundamentally I think of God as a misunderstanding, a mistranslation, a misappropriation of our individual and communal energy. Rabbi Michael Lerner says that “the God you don’t believe in doesn’t exist.” Mine certainly doesn’t. As an ethnic, religious, spiritual, and intellectual community, I think we need to theologically transition from monotheism, a belief in one God, to monism, a belief in oneness.

In additional to our Jewish community, I find overflowing spirituality in the beautiful and infinite forms of nature and culture, those miraculous wonders that transcend us as individuals, often inspiring awe and wonder. In any event, believing pales in comparison to doing. According to Deuteronomy 30:12-14, “It is not in heaven above”, but in your mouth and heart, in the thoughts and actions of people who ethically navigate this beautifully complex world.

“Tzedakah and acts of kindness are equivalent to all the mitzvahs of the Torah combined.”
- Jerusalem Talmud, Pe’ah 1:1; Babylonian Talmud, Baba Batra 9a

36 Responses to “My Jewish Atheism”

I’ve read your discussion with interest, but your mindset baffles me.
I’m a Christian and believe in the one God, His Son, Jesus who died for me, and the Holy Spirit within me and I cannot fathom your non-belief. What drives you to live? Where does your hope come from? Are you content with not having a life after this one?
Please, I’m not trying to be funny or disrespectful, but I would like to understand. For me, knowing that I am a sinful being that has been cleansed by Jesus’ grace, loved by the Father for who I am because He created me for the purpose of loving me; and that I need not do any good deeds other than to proclaim and love Him – that gives me hope for the future and for ‘surviving’ this world that is falling apart!
As for the ‘cruelty’ of God and His ‘lack of ability’ – that is unfortunately the truth about the sins of mankind. Yes God could bring out His magic wand and fix all wrong things, but then nobody will atone for what they do, because that is what people do. They mess up and someone else must clean it up. The end of all that will be death and destruction and eternal pain. Please help me understand your mindset. Thanks.

I am a 70 year old who first rejected the Bible in my mother’s Methodist Sunday school class in Lacey, Iowa at 7 years of age. Jesus had no medical knowledge and believed people had demons in them which he could cast out of them by using magical words that the people of his age believed worked. I found many claims that my rational mind could not accept. My mother claimed to have read the Bible many times , but in discussions of passages throughout the Bible I learned that she could not really use her critical thinking skills because she had been successfully indoctrinated along with many other that this was the word of God and that Hell actually existed and the promise of an afterlife and a Heaven where she believed she would be reunited with her loved ones. But when I pointed out the Bible claims that most people would go to Hell I could see she had not thought that far ahead and now she became depressed and even unsure if she would not be sent to Hell for things she had been taught were sinful. How sad I feel for the millions who fall for such obvious myths, Judges 1:19 Where this mythical “God” could not defeat the people in the valley because the had chariots of iron, Rediculous! or Isiah 45:7 where it is claimed “God” created good and evil! these people did not have the advancements of the knowledge that we have acquired in several thousands of years and even then held back by the power of the Catholic church for most of that time and still going on to where the believers will not allow real science to be taught in public schools because they have been taught this biblical stuff as truth, Amazing! Evolutuion is what is real science has learned and should be taught in schools and then if students have doubts speak up! That is what I did in church though most kids learned to be quiet in both church and school! Unfortunately! The internet has allowed increasing numbers of people to learn what the Bible actually says because most believers do not actually read. I took many notes and have been though it at seven times.

Dear Anna: How cruel are your beliefs! A father sends a son to die for you??? It sounds egocentric, how many times you mention “for me”….The least I can say you are brainwashed… Content with this life? Yes I am. Hoping for another life? Who told you there is another life? Keep in mind that everything you mention, is INSIDE your mind, nothing real happens of what you say.

If you give the traditional Christian theology a fair shake, this is not the dogma. It is the divine become incarnate in the physical realm, “God of God, Light of Light,” kind of thing. So, the parent analogy is only an analogy that it seems strange for an atheist to take to a literal extreme that historical Christianity never did.

One way to view it is not Hitchen’s or others horror at the sacrifice of an innocent by God for others: it is instead the willing self-sacrifice of the Creator incarnate in order to right moral imbalance, in the end “satisfying” the Creator, restoring the imbalance from a set of natural and moral laws that stems from the nature of the Creator. It isn’t about human justice, it isn’t any human forced into sacrifice, it is the Creator suffering as one of us to connect with us in a permanent way.

Not saying you have to believe that mythology, but it would help the discourse if atheists, who ostensibly but such significant into reason, would stop being so irrational and distorting and, frankly, idiotic in their critiques of religion.

Isn’t that rather narcissistic? I don’t understand the appeal of Christianity, myself, but I respect that it works for other people. I can’t say I fathom your belief, either. Why not just live your life? Why do you need another life after this one? Hope comes from living from day to day, trying to achieve my goals by loving my family, being with friends, etc. Is your life that radically different because of your relief of a particular God(s)? If this gives you hope, great.

Theistic religion never gave me as sense of hope or purpose or anything else. Connecting to my ancestor’s traditions gives me a sense of connection and identity, but what you look for seems like a static approach to life to me, never being wiling to change as life changes. That’s just me. I’d rather have a dialogue than making statements about being baffled about other people’s beliefs.

Thank you for your honest and articulate expression of a non-theistic Judaism. For those seeking communities that clearly and consistently celebrate their Judaism (in any language) through these principles, I encourage you to explore Secular Humanistic Judaism – http://www.iishj.org is a good place to start, especially the “resources” section.

Dan Brook has articulated not only the philosophy of Humanistic Judaism but also expressed the very real need that cultural and atheist Jews have for communities that provide support for their Jewish identity in meaningful ways while enabling them to be true to their humanistic values. Such congregations, communities and havurot exist across North America, supported by the Society for Humanistic Judaism. To learn more about Humanistic Judaism, its philosophy and practice, you can visit the Society for Humanistic Judaism — http://www.shj.org — you may find a community that’s right for you.
Bonnie Cosuens
Executive Director, Society for Humanistic Judaism, info@shj.org

Thank you, Dan, for writing, and Tikkun, for publishing an informative piece on post-enlightenment Judaism in the West. The Society for Humanism (http://www.shj.org) organizes communities in North America (29 affiliates today). The Society promotes a human-centered philosophy that combines the celebration of Jewish culture and identity with an adherence to humanistic values and ideas. Humanistic Judaism offers a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life.

Speaking as a former Catholic (and only for myself) in response to Anna’s questions:

Anna: “What drives you to live?”

I rather enjoy life, especially friends and family and community. I love Nature, the arts, music, good food and tons more. Death will come to me, I’m not eager to spend so long dead as I will get to spend alive, so I’m driven to live as long as living provides enjoyable relationships with others.

Anna: “Where does your hope come from? ”

There’s so much to hope for! Continued good health, love, watching the kids and grandkids grow, new discoveries, new adventures, etc. etc. Also world peace, better government, better protection of the planet, etc, etc.

Are you content with not having a life after this one?

My life has had ups and downs. Some of the downs were hard to wade through. If I could have eternal life, I’d expect the same mixed bag. So it’s hard to answer that fully.

But observation displays that bodies break down. At a certain point for many, quality of life diminishes and for some, there’s nothing left that’s enjoyable in a weakened state. If that’s what actually happens, an eternity in an ever-weakening state hardly is something I’d hope for. Death would be preferable.

Death itself really doesn’t scare me. There is some trepidation about experiencing the discomforts of the dying process, but I’d guess most people of any faith (or non-faith) share such trepidations.

Ultimately, I don’t need to look to some notion of a heavenly afterlife to motivate me to be kind, empathetic, loving or ethical. I think all those things make life better for everyone and that all people should do that. I witness my imperfections, make serious efforts to correct them and as I grow older, I feel confident I’m continually becoming a better person.

I think there’s plenty of logical reasons all people can feel similarly motivated.

People who prefer to cheat, lie, steal, destroy, behave violently, will likely continue to exist with or without a concept of a deity.

Anna,
In response to your questions overall, if humans make the world’s problems (and you seem to acknowledge this as mankind’s sins), shouldn’t humans solve the world’s problems? And if so, what role does believing and praying in a supernatural deity play, especially when you say “that [you] need not do any good deeds other than to proclaim and love Him – that gives [you] hope for the future and for ‘surviving’ this world that is falling apart!”

I mean no disrespect, and just trying to understand. But if humans are creating the world’s problems, is it a good use of time to simply proclaim love for a supernatural deity? Rather, shouldn’t we actually being doing the “good deeds” that you say are not required by God? How does the world get better by proclaiming love for God (who as you say is purposefully not intervening so we learn our lesson) while eschewing the very good deeds we need to make this world better?

Thank you, Dan Brook, for the articulate and accurate explanation of secular, non-theistic Judaism. It is indeed possible to live a rich, full, Jewish life without belief in God. As a member of The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in New York City, I have found a community of like-minded individuals with whom to share my love of being culturally Jewish without the “baggage” of the things I cannot blindly follow without question. I know for certain that as a Humanistic Jew, I say the things I believe, and believe the things I say. I can’t pay lip service to prayers and rituals that hold no meaning for me, but neither do I think I have to give up my pride in and love for being Jewish simply because of that. I can celebrate my culture in ways that are meaningful and that resonate for me in the 21st Century. My son has been raised in Humanistic Judaism, and celebrated a Bar Mitzvah in 2011 that was reflective, introspective and so much more wonderful for him than the rote-memorization of a ritual that would otherwise hold no meaning for him. His associations with Judaism are so much more positive than mine were at his age — and he is a proud and happy boy who takes great pride in his Jewish heritage. Additionally, Humanistic Jewish congregations are open and welcoming to interfaith families (such as my own — my husband is not Jewish), and allow the children from these families to celebrate ALL aspects of their heritage with respect and love, not by some arbitrary rules imposed by gatekeepers who think they are speaking for “God.”

There are Secular Humanistic Jewish congregations all over the United States — if you go to the website for the Society for Humanistic Judaism (www.shj.org) you will find that there are many affiliates in many cities and states! Anyone who might be interested, should definitely check it out! :)

Dan, you say “I believe that complex questions are almost always better than simplistic answers. You are making the common mistake of assuming that all those who speak of God are doing so in a simplistic way. Not so. It is strange that some people who “believe” only In the scientific method seem to be saying “In the name of open-mindedness I must close my mind to the idea that there can be anything of a spiritual nature about which science does not yet know.” See how open minded I am? You say “Whether good or bad things happen, I don’t blame, praise, beg, fear, or worship any God or gods, devils or demons, angels or ghosts.” I am a lifelong church goer and neither do I do that. Neither do very many, including, I am sure, Rabbi Lerner. You build a religious straw person of your own making and then knock it down. The word God has become “genderized” — at least in English — because it feels dismissive to call what we feel is an important universal concept “it.” That just sounds rude in English. And if course it is now simply a tradition. Don’t make such a fuss. Intelligent religious people don’t think God is a person with gender and a body. Don’t be silly. Lately I see people like me responding to what we perceive as a universal connecting spirit which we call God because why the heck not? I don’t see us (and I remove the “us” of whom I speak from fundamentalists of any religion) trying to convince others to think as we do. I see modern atheists, who seem sometimes to think that they have invented atheism, doing that. Just leave everyone alone to believe, or think, what they want on the subject. Have some humility. You don’t know everything.

“You are making the common mistake of assuming that all those who speak of God are doing so in a simplistic way.”

Joan, there you have it. A response to Dan’s wonderful article which ends with “you don’t know everything.”

He writes a piece about how he doesn’t know everything and you end with that ending. Perfect. Another example of the continual monotheistic onslaught against thinking. We are surrounded by Christians and Jews who will move to a personal attack, rather than a discussion of fact vs faith.

You open your response with a claim that is simply not true. Dan does not make the assumption you say he does. Not even close. Tell us, how do you make that jump? What did he write that even remotely indicates such an assumption? If anything, Dan’s words indicate an embrace of complexity and a rejection of the simple constructs of religious “believers.”

You remind me of why I stopped having discussions with Christians about 50 years ago precisely because they are almost always completely unable to think critically about their blind, nonsensical faith and will immediately do what you have done with your response. Talk about mistakes and assumptions!!

You are a Jewish atheist in a similar way that the late, sainted Michael Harrington called himself a Catholic atheist (culturally, communally). [He was national chair of Democratic Socialists of America when I co-chaired their Religion Commission in the 1980s, working with left-leaning, believing Roman Catholics, Jews, Episcopalians, Muslims, etc.].

Rav Kuk, the Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel and advocate (like you and me) of vegetarianism and the needs of animals, often said that religious Jews need atheists (which included many of the socialistic kibbuztniks who were creating Israel at the time) to keep us honest and to remind of us the ways in which we err and fail.

Dan Brook points out many distinguished Jewish atheists, both nationally and internationally. It would be difficult to come up with a comparable list of Jews, alive or dead, known for their strong religious beliefs. The only such household name I can think of is Jesus, but I won’t go there.

Well …. if you really read the apparent words of Jesus, (myth or not) I mean really READ them you will come to see that he is a Non-Dualist as Spinoza was. God is One, there is nothing other than God. And Where is God ? Where does Jesus say that God exists ? Where ? He says “The Kingdom of God is WITHIN you”…. so the infinite is within you. How is it possible that the Infinite exists within the Finite ? How is this possible ? The secret is in the very name that Jesus called God … he always says AV (Abba) …. Aleph-Bet. These letters mean the Infinite within (housed) contained in all things. He was definitely some form of Kabbalist who knew the mystical meanings of these letters. Apeh+Bet…. Father ? Alphabet ? The Infinite contained in the Finite. Jesus the Non-Dualist (Monist) says … may they all be One as we are One. The guy was teaching Advaita Vedanta. After coming to understand the Original Aramaic meanings of the letters spoken 2000 years ago it is easy to see that he was a Pantheist. ein od milvado

Rod – your reply is what prompted me to jump in and contribute to this discussion. For the main reason that I totally agree with your statement on Jesus’s teaching. It is simple and powerful: ” Love God with all your heart, mind, and with all your might”. Then he said, “God is within you”

Addition to my comment. I wasn’t finished when I pressed the wrong key and went to published. Putting those 2 thoughts together, gives me the understanding that we are to love, respect and honor ourselves because God is within us, …and that practice will naturally lead or bring us to love others as we love ourselves.

how wonderful that this discussion is being opened. and the views expressed-all of them. am really happy for it and would like to see more.

I personally am what’s now called”uncomfortable”, with either militant scientist atheism which proclaims loudly that there is no Supreme Being or consciousness and that every one believing in anything like that is profoundly stupid.
and the reverse-the religious people who say Jesus died on the Cross for your sins, we don’t like it here, it’s all nothing, we’re all sinners and have to believe in the Blood, etc. Somehow both positions feel to be similar. So I enjoyed the peace and tolerance of some writing here.

hopefully at some point poor Jews who haven’t “made” it, or/and who aren’t interested in the Capitalist Carousel will be accepted along the way too.

The difference between theology and practice is missing. Whatever you “think” about God, is different to the experiences that happen when we co-create the “Godfield,” to use the words of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. The energy of transformation is beyond us, within and between us, the Sum is greater than the parts. Let the paradigm of anthropomorphism be behind us intellectually and yet, the awesomeness, the mystery, the Infinite Potential for Change, for this I list up the “shmae rabbah”–the Great Name in awe and praise. And, when I am in pain, I do cry out as though there is a listening G*d, and by emptying out all that is clogging up the kiddush cup of my spirit, new life and deeper Awareness flows through me in healing and holy ways. I feel blessed. Humanisms err by placing us at the center of life, when we, holographic fractals of All, only tend the Garden. Look further, take what you are seeking further than thought–we are mind/body/spirit, the sum is greater than the parts…together we can shift the paradigm…together. Read up on the writings of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, his ideas about Paradigm Shift are very helpful.

I belong to Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco, a Reconstructionist temple that used to be Renewal. We are very welcoming, warm, inclusive, fun, musical, intellectual, and spiritual with a wonderful rabbi and a great congregation.

First: Where does your hope come from? Here is a quote from Saint Augustine of Hippo that might help you. It has me. “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”

Second: Are you content with not having a life after this one? As a Christian, I believe that I indeed have a life after this one. However, simply having a relationship with Jesus Christ doesn’t let me off the hook in this one. Jesus expects us to GROW. He also promises us “an abundant life”. But He’s very concerned about what you do in this life. As in: Feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit those in prison” .

Third: Jesus wants you to do better than “I need not do any good deeds other than to proclaim and love Him – that gives me hope for the future and for ‘surviving’ this world that is falling apart!” Martin Luther King spoke truth to power and was assassinated for it. Archbishop Romero in El Salvador was shot in church because he spoke up for the poor. Jesus wants us to get out there and make the world better. After all, if you take the eternal life thing seriously, it means that there’s nothing stopping you from doing good in the world. If you succeed at making the world a little better, you win. If you die in the process, you win too, right?

Jesus wants us to take our Christianity beyond personal salvation. He wants us to grow in relationship to Him so that we make the world a better place for all. If hope for you doesn’t have two beautiful daughters, then perhaps you need to take another look at your faith. Faith without action for the powerless and dispossessed is hollow and trite.

Thanks for your article. You express beautifully the viewpoint of the Secular Jewish movement represented by affiliates of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations, Workmen’s Circle and independent Secular and Humanistic Jewish communities throughout the world.

My own community, Tri-Valley Cultural Jews, serves eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties. We celebrate all the Jewish holidays together with non-religious ceremonies. We sponsor Jewish Culture School for kids, with a Secular Bar/Bat Mitzvah program that even religious Jews recognize as the most meaningful way to observe the coming-of-age ceremony. We get together for shabbes and havdalah, for a movie group, and for Philosopher’s Cafe, an information monthly discussion of serious (and sometimes not so serious) topics. We encourage community service and involvement with the real lives of real people in the real world. Most of all, we provide a safe place for freethinking Jews who want a real Jewish community in which they can be their authentic selves.

I am not a Jew, but what was written mirrors my thoughts and beliefs. I joined a Unitarian church a few years ago, and I believe community and charity, along with understanding and thinking, are what is important. Our church has people with different beliefs, including Christians. Focusing on community and kindness can certainly hold a group together, and bring joy and understanding. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, I could not have said it any better. I always say I am the most Jewish Atheist you will ever meet. Very active in my community and do not believe in a deity. I always say religious in not synonymous with righteous. thanks again

A very good essay, but unfortunately as useless as atheism itself, which is, just like “God concept”, just “an unnecessary layer of obfuscation and therefore superfluous as it adds nothing beyond the word and concept itself”. Philosophically, how can you deny something that you cannot define?
German Jewish Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch once remarked that without the God concept “the questions of this night … emerge in front of the dark spotted world-ground itself”. And Bloch leaves the question open whether, in view of this dark blood-stained backdrop, kindness and menshlikhkeit don’t need “a correlate in world-ground”.
Anyhow, isn’t the decision to put children into this world already a confession of believe in God, according to Bloch’s “definition” of this indefineable figure as “a correlate of kindness and menshlikhkeit in world-ground”, i.e. in the ultimate sense of all the fuss?
Dear Anna, please pardon Eduardo Sorkin’s not very gentle answer, but the Christian believe that Jesus died for us and the Jews killed him is the root of all Jew-hate. And Theodor Weissenborn once soberly remarked about this God: “Since he let my brother be crucified to reconcile with me I know what I am to expect of my father.”

don’t you think it’s absurd to be a jew and an atheist? YHWHwas the very reason why there is israel as a people or nation. He birthed israel in giving the son of promise Isaac to Abraham at old age. If you deny the existence of God YHWH it’s like you deny your identity/history as descendant of israel, son of isaac.

I see no fucking sense in being atheist and still considering yourself Jew… Judaism is about god belief and tons of ridiculous rituals. What benefit does being an atheist and calling yourself a Jew gives you ?

Because your parents were Jews ? so what,if your grandparent was Hitler, would you consider yourself a Nazi ? does your roots define who you are ? I believe it does only from a biological standpoint. You’re a Homosapien.

As for all the Christians here who say how can you see a meaning to life without having a God to believe in… The answer is simple, Buddhism.

Buddhism is not a religion, it’s a deep understanding of life and our consciousness. Without the fairy tales of God, Angels and Demons. Basically Buddhism is ‘religion’ for grown-ups ;)